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Dear Readers,
As I recapitulate the key highlights of Day 2 and 3, let me mention something what Professor V S Ramamurthy said in the Dinner Speech of Day 2. He mentioned that if we try to find out who are the most attached or attracted to computers in most families of India, we would find that the (school) children or the grandparents to be so. It is like this perhaps because both these groups have the adequate amount of time or enthu to explore mediums to meet their needs. The others either do not have the time or tend to know things too fast thereby trying to categorise every new thing in some category of items they know well about. The growth and spread of geospatial technologies face a similar challenge. We have tried to deploy it faster than we have known it and its potential. This is not bad, but perhaps in the process we loose to capitalise on many hidden potentials and remain satisfied with what is being spoon-fed. We have to give enough time on R&D, on indigenous development and education before we embark on the rightful journey. Without directly mentioning, Padma Bhusan awarded Professor V S Ramamurthy , the secretary to the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, implied at how he deciphers the basics of the game of geomatics. GIS Development brings you the key points of 2nd and final (third) day of Map India 2005 as it unfolded in Taj Palace, New Delhi. Map India 2005 is the 8th Annual Conference of GIS, GPS, Remote Sensing, Aerial Photography, Surveying and Mapping. It was organised this year, in collaboration with the Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG) whereby the Annual Convention of ISG, Geomatics 2005 was held in conjugation with Map India. ISG Presidential Address The Indian Society of Geomatics (ISG) had its Plenary Session on Day 2, which had 4 key speakers that touched on the topic of bridging the Digital Divide. Very interesting discourses on how the digital world can actually bridge the gap between the ones with information and the ones without, thereby bringing transparency to development and thoughts was highlighted. The strong relation between addressing digital divide and working towards back to basics was pointed out. After the welcome address by IC Matieda, Secretary, ISG, the floor was taken by Mr A R Dasgupta. Mr Dasgupta, the President of ISG and Deputy Director Space Application Centre (SAC) India delivered the Presidential Address tracing the history of the ISG and the key issues in the current market of geomatics. Mr Dasgupta spoke about ‘glocalisation’. He mentioned that it is important to keep local sensitivities intact while bringing the digital world. It is true that the digital world opens up a wide range of opportunities and brings the globe into a room, but there should be conscious efforts to understand that the idea of bridging the digital divide is not to change existing traditional good practices but to provide a support that brings rationality and transparency in the process. He gave a number of very good practices happening within India that show the good use of ITC and geospatial tools in development. ISG Millennium talk The ISG Millennium series of talk had two lectures this year. The first one was by Mr A K Mukherji and the second by Professor Michael Blakemore. A K Mukherji, Former DG, Ministry of Environment & Forest, New Delhi This informative talk spanned various areas of environment and sustainable development. Mr Mukherji traced the evolution of the concept of sustainable development from 1972 and highlighted the constant focus of environmental issues in every stage of the sustainable development programme anywhere in the world. He pointed out with facts and figures the deplorable state of environment today in India in comparision to a few decades back. He raised alarm on the future consequences and mentioned that it is vital to have the right tools at this juncture to monitor the environment. He gave various examples of the possible role of GIS and satellites to understand, monitor, check, preserve and take the right decisions in the domain of environmental planning. Professor Michael Blakemore, I-DRA, UK This speech took the audience to a different level. Prof Blakemore spoke of digital divides that are in our mindsets and activities. He mentioned that in the modern global scenario, digital intervention happens mostly on its own. When effects of digital tools are absent the reason is the absence of correct policy frameworks or the presence of interventionist strategies that curtail the growth of information and IT. He mentioned that when we take medicines, we mostly treat the symptoms and get cured. We do not necessarily wipe out the disease forever. Similarly, interventionist strategies (whatever be its nature) treat only the symptoms and never the cause. According to him, techlogy is about utilizing skills. When a technology fails, it actually points at the misuse or underuse of skills. We need to understand the skillsets available in the region, the talents and resources that we already have and then we should try to nuture it for our benefit with technology as tools. Technology cannot be the driving force for change or development. The driving force need to be in our minds. Keynote Session – Technology Trends This popular and noteworthy Keynote had three main speakers. The session started with Brad Schmidt, International Sales Manager, PCI Geomatics speaking about the way the industry is growing despite various challenges and odds. He implied upon the vast areas of growth taking into account the long way yet to go in terms of development in Asia, thereby pointing out at the strong relationship between development and geomatics. He also mentioned about the different offering of PCI Geomatics and the way these offering have evolved in terms of the need of the geospatial community. Dhirendra Kumar, Country Category Manager, Hewlett Packard, talked of the foray of HP in the geospatial market. The need for high quality output in every case of best decision-making was asserted. The role of resolution and accuracy in output was emphasized. C B Mishra, GM, CMC Ltd talked gave a slightly different picture. He pointed out that the potential of geospatial technology trends in India is still to see its full form. In comparision to world wide trends, the Indian scenario is not that bright. However, what needs to be understood is that the capability and capacity to match global trends is there in India. In spite of this there is a dearth of realizing that potential. Perhaps a better setting of policy framework and more clear stance by the industry and the government may accelerate the process. Keynote Session – GI as Public Utility This crucial Keynote had two acclaimed speakers. The session started with Mohammed Abdulla AlZaffin, the Head of the GIS Centre, Dubai Municipalty. His insightful speech told us about the way the Dubai Municipality has revolutionized the use of geographic information in Dubai and UAE. He mentioned with various case studies that GIS and GI has become a public utility in that region since people are deeply involved and dependent on such services on a day-to-day basis. Absence of these services, even for a day, generated honest complaints. This is the true situation where GI can be something close to a public utility. The talk showed various manners in which the government, in close consultation with the needs of the society is providing timely and relevant information and thereby generating business and service for the nation. The next presentation was by Ravi Gupta, Director, CSDMS. He gave an eloquent perspective, whereby he compared the other key utility sectors in India and drew an analogy with the mapping sector. He implied at the way the other sectors have opened up, transformed to meet the needs of the society, and pointed out the need for immediate transformation. He talked about the airlines, power, cement, telecom and road sector and how the related industries have transformed along with the concerned government departments. Technical Sessions Technical sessions and student sessions of Map India 2005 had over 150 presentations in the three days. There were a huge number of posters in the poster sessions too. The technical sessions started in Day 2 and took up whole of Day 3 in 6 parallel halls. Various significant topics were covered in the sessions as follows - Water Resources, Geology and Mineral Resources, Disaster Management, Agriculture, Web GIS, Urban Planning, Infrastructure and Utility, Environmental Planning, Marine GIS and Coastal Zone Management, Forestry, Analytical Frameworks in GIS, Emerging Applications, Image Analysis, Health, Transportation, GPS and Education. National Workshop on Cadastral Survey and Mapping The Map India 2005 also had the opportunity to have the National Workshop on Cadastral Survey and Mapping being held in on Day 3. This very important and workshop (on invitation) was held in parallel for the whole day and was organized by the Survey of India and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. Important government departments and industry representatives were invited in this event, which had some important talks and paper presentations. The crux of the workshop was to identify the key issues and needs in the country as of today in the sector of Cadastre. The workshop came out with some important conclusions that hopefully if taken up shall prove vital for the nation, which is still primarily an agriculture based economy. The workshop also released two important maps. The workshop set the aim for developing a detailed village level information systems at 1:4000 scale for the whole nation. One was a sanskrit map of India (paper and digital) by Survey of India and the other was a detailed urban map of Hyderabad prepared in private partnership. Valedictory The Valedictory Session started at 16:00 at the main Shahjahan Hall amidst a packed hall of over 500. There were a number of dignitaries on the dais, each of who spoke briefly about the future of geospatial sciences and how to carry this conference forward. The Chief Guest was Mr S Reghupati, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Government of India. He spoke about the various activities a nation needs to undertake to ensure a safe, healthy and forward looking society. He mentioned about the criticality if information science and technology in the modern world’s functioning. He talked to homeland security and disaster management as the two key areas of work, which India needs to focus in depth. In view of that he mentioned about the immense possibility of the geographic information technologies as the apt tool to address these issues. He mentioned of the valuable work ongoing in the government departments that take the support of these tools and also spoke of the need for more expertise and tools to address these vast and ever changing nature of home affairs. The Valedictory speech was delivered by Mr Suresh Prabhu, Member of the Parliament of India. He talked of his long association with GIS and related tools in developing his constituency as well as many other projects. He emphasized the need for conferences like Map India and mentioned that awareness building is an important exercise that can lead to development of the nation. Dr P Nag (Surveyor General of India), Mr A R Dasgupta (President ISG) and Dr M P Narayanan (President, CSDMS) were the panelists and each spoke a few words on how the conference of 2005 has been a significant initiative. The session ended with a short film on a Project by the students of Almora, India, the Government of India and CSDMS named - Mapping the Neighbourhood. The film, in its own charm, spoke of its interpretation of ‘Back to Basics’. In the end Ravi Gupta, Director, CSDMS and Convener of Map India 2005 spoke a few words and ended the conference with the AWARD ceremony of Map India 2005. Awards were given for best poster, best papers (3), best student paper and best exhibitors (3). Details of the award may be seen in the Map India 2005 full report, to be published shortly. |
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